Archive for the ‘Homeschool News’ Category

Wordly Wise 3000 enriches vocabulary skills while making vocabulary learning fun. The homeschool vocabulary curriculum contains riddles, crossword puzzles, hidden messages and many other engaging activities to help kids in grades K through 12 absorb up to 4050 new vocabulary words!

With Wordly Wise 3000, students build their reading vocabularies while simultaneously strengthening their reading, critical thinking, and writing skills. Here you will find a Wordly Wise books and word lists for every level of vocabulary curriculum!

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Find Homeschool Resources Here

Why Homeschool? Homeschool education is perhaps one of the biggest and most monumental reforms in our education system since mass public schooling took effect about a hundred years ago.  As the practice of homeschooling children gains more support from families, many have become increasingly disappointed at the decline in quality of public and private school education in the U.S.  And who can blame them?  Think about it for a second.  Why is it that when our kids take those aptitude tests that measure our rank—in terms of intelligence—in the world, they always score near the bottom?  If our public and private schools systems work, how come our kids never score better than an average Asian or European kid in math, science or literature?

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Homeschooled Kids

Growing up, I remember a really good friend of mine getting pulled out of school to start getting home-schooled. I remember how all of our friends talked about how sorry we felt for him and how he was going to miss out on so much. What about prom, sports, talent shows, or even more important friendships and a great education? It was not until I met up with him later that I realized a lot of my perceptions were false.

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Luke Sharrett/The New York Times

What does Obama signing a new student loan bill mean for you and your kids? And what are the positive and negative effects?

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Homeschool Record Keeping

It’s every homeschooler’s nightmare. A local school district official knocks on the door and asks to see your homeschool record keeping. However, after a brief moment of panic, the realization dawns that this isn’t a nightmare after all. You’ve done your homework and are prepared for such a visit. After spending a few minutes looking over your records, the impressed official heads for the door, satisfied you are in compliance with the law.

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Getting Started Homeschooling

Know Your State Law Read the rest of this entry »

A decision by The Texas Board of Education to change the curriculum in Texas social studies textbooks has brought on a tremendous amount of controversy between the democratic and republican members. A few of the primary decisions that were made and heavily argued over are the following:

•  The Board removed Thomas Jefferson from the Texas curriculum, “replacing him with religious right icon John Calvin.”
•  The Board refused to require that “students learn that the Constitution prevents the U.S. government from promoting one religion over all others.”
• Classification of historic periods (still B.C. and A.D., rather than B.C.E. and C.E.)
• Students are now required to explain the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its impact on global politics 
• Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir will be a required learning 
• There will be a reference to the Second Amendment right to bear arms in a section about citizenship in a U.S. government class
• Arguments over including hip-hop as an example of a significant cultural movement (Will Not happen)
• Denial to add the names or references to important Hispanics throughout history
• Teachers in Texas are now required to teach the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation’s Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state.

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My people believe that homeschool deprives kids of the socialization benefits that you get from public school. I believe that no matter what educational avenue a parent decides, the true result of any socialization is up to the parents and how they incorporate socilaization into the child’s life. There is an abundance of socialization tools out there now for homeschoolers and it is up to the parents to participate in them. You do not have to go to public school to do this. What do you think?

An article by Reverend Brenda Hoffman states, “Truth be told, most homeschool parents feel that the public school’s social life is enough of a reason for them to homeschool. This is because, in the majority of schools, the social life that takes place in public schools is mean-spirited, competitive, exclusive, status-seeking, snobbish, full of talk about who went to whose birthday party and who got what Christmas presents and who got how many Valentine cards and who is talking to so-and-so and who is not. This begins as early as first grade. You’ll see classes divide into leaders (usually the popular kids), their bands of followers, and other outsiders who you can tell have been excluded from these groups for one reason or another. Many parents will even note that they haven’t ever seen their children doing anything really mean or silly until their child(ren) went away to school.”

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Great Web letter by 13-year old Sarah Prater: